Posts Tagged ‘rowing’

Like pull ups, heavy rows are one of the best exercises to train your back. The king of rowing exercises is the standing barbell row, but the problem is that too few people perform them properly.
You might see the following common technique flaws in people executing barbell rows:

momentum – using the posterior chain to generate momentum, instead of using the muscles of the back and arms

rounded back – weakness in the lower back or hip tightness can cause your lower back to round, which is bad for the spine

standing upright – you have to bend over nearly parallel to the floor in order to work the upper back properly

As I mentioned last week, you can fix all of these issues by switching from barbell rows to inverted rows, or you can learn how to perform barbell rows correctly.

Let’s talk about how we can best use barbell rows in our training routines.

Along with pull ups, rowing is one of the best exercises to train the back. The king of rowing exercises is the standing barbell row, but the problem is that too few people perform them properly.

You might see the following common technique flaws in people executing barbell rows:

standing upright – you gotta bend over just short of 90 degrees

rounded back – lower back weakness or hip tightness can cause this

momentum – using the lower back, glutes, and hamstrings for momentum

You can fix all of these issues by changing your barbell row into an inverted row. The inverted row is not a perfect replacement for the barbell row – it removes posterior chain stabilization from the movement and limits the load you can use – but it is a suitable replacement if you need one, and believe it or not it gives us yet another reason to accept the existence of the Smith Machine… OK, maybe not.

Let’s find out why and how to use inverted rows in our training routines.